


Wooded Travels

by MayLovelies



Category: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Family, Little/Kid Maeglin, Mother-Son Relationship, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-20
Updated: 2016-06-20
Packaged: 2018-07-16 07:42:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7258657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MayLovelies/pseuds/MayLovelies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s little adventures with Maeglin that Aredhel enjoys the most.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wooded Travels

**Author's Note:**

> I love the idea of the two of them having these adventures in the woods, and Maeglin who is just a kid, thinking that everything that they come across is some huge, dangerous creature.

Aredhel heard the light footsteps of another trailing from behind, prompting her to draw her bow. The creature, seeming to have followed her a while after she left her home, had been growing closer and closer. Not hearing any sort of growl or roar, she figured it wasn’t dangerous. However, it obviously wasn’t a deer, given it was following her. 

 

_ Perhaps he is some type or predatory animal.  _ She thought as she remained in a stable position. The footsteps as she expected, grew quicker, louder and closer. Whatever it was, was approaching fast without yield. This prompted Aredhel to fall into position, grabbing and arrow from her satchel and preparing to turn and kill her enemy.

 

As she prepared to turn, she heard the creature fall, followed by a whimper and a large splash. Instantly, Aredhel was aware that this wasn’t a beast who stalked her, but in fact her little boy.

 

“I wonder what beast is clumsy enough to fall in the midst of his own prey..” She spoke , her voice projecting past the brush, and to the pond she passed just seconds before. “Lucky for him I didn’t strike him with my bow.” With quick strides, she peered over the water and gazed. For an elf her height, the pond was quite small, yet Maeglin had found himself stuck underneath. It also now occurred to Aredhel that there were small clouds of blood forming from around his head. 

 

Dropping her act of humor, she bent down and seized her wet son from the water and held him close. Worried, because he was not moving, she began to hit him in the back countless times until finally, he coughed up a great amount of water upon her white gown. His dark eyes opened and he finally met his mothers worried ones.

 

“My love, are you alright?!” She made an attempt at sounding calm and collected but that failed. Maeglin quickly nodded.

 

“Mommy! Mommy didn’t even know that I was sneaking up on her! She didn’t hear me coming!”

 

Sighing a sigh of relief, Aredhel nodded. “I never would have suspected you my love.” She quietly responded, using her free hand to tend to the wound on his forehead. With an extra cloth she’d brought with her, she wiped some of the blood away, however, she’d have to return home to properly clean. Or perhaps, Eol could simply heal it. 

 

“I ran as...as soon as I saw you leave! I wanted to surprise you!”

 

“That you did, Maeglin.” Aredhel placed him down next to her leg, dusting him off a bit more. Soaked in water, and covered in all types of things, she did the best she could but her son was still dirty. However, it was nothing to fret about. In fact, Maeglin vaguely reminded her of herself as a child, always running around and chasing her father everywhere. She’d return home much dirtier than this. “Next time my love, if you plan to follow me, try not to hurt yourself. You had me worried back there.” 

 

She began her stride towards her house, however Maeglin pulled on her gown. “I don’t want to go home now!”

 

“Love, your injury worries me.” Aredhel bent down and kissed his forehead. “We will come back tomorrow.”

 

“No! Let’s go on an adventure! Now! Now!” And there he was, excited, jumping up and down, warming his mother’s heart. Aredhel sighed in defeat and nodded.

 

“As you wish,” She smiled and straightened up. “But not for long.” Her son’s eyes lit up in glee as he began to run around her in circles. In all truth, she was simply taking a longer way back home, though they’d be there quick. She felt she had to hurry, with his family gone, poor Eol would not know how to function for more than five minutes. 

 

“Follow me, love. Try not to fall behind.”

 

“I won’t!” Maeglin exclaimed, hurrying behind Aredhel as she began down the path. “Mommy is really tall! I’m never going to be that tall!”

 

“Oh yes you will, you will be taller than me.” She responded, casting a glance over her shoulder. “You will be as tall, if not taller than your father.”

 

“I’ll look just like daddy too!”

 

“Ah...you look like your uncle dear.” A lot like Fingon, she wanted to say, however that discussion was for another time. As Aredhel walked on, Maeglin ran ahead when he heard a rustle in the bushes. She held her hand out to attempt to stop him, but he’d already jumped into the brush.

 

“My love, be careful, you don’t know what’s in...” Little Maeglin returned from the greenery with a huge, very ugly toad. Holding it in his extended hands, he ran towards his mother. 

 

“Look mommy! Look mommy! I found a...a...a...” He paused and stared confused at the strange creature,  and it was then, Aredhel that her son had never seen a toad before. So she knelt down next to him, and the poor creature.

 

“He is a toad, dear. A toad.”

“No mommy! He’s not a toad! He is an orc! And orc and he travelled all the way here to kill us, but I saved you from him! Now I’m going to keep him for eternity!!” 

 

Confused for a few seconds, Aredhel smiled and decided to play along with her son’s imaginative scenario. Opening her eye’s wide, and covering her mouth she gasped in horror. “My dear! You are right! Orcs have been sent all this way to capture us!” The toad emotionlessly croaked. “He speaks ill of us and our kin! We  _ must  _ go seek out the others in his company and capture them, before they kill us!”

 

“Do you figure it’s too late mommy?” The little boy asked. “Do you think we’ve lost?”

 

“Of course not my love, we have until the sun sets and that will not be for hours!”

 

For some time after that, both mother and son ran relentlessly through the woods, grabbing “orcs”, and placing them in their satchels. If it were not for Maeglin’s presence, Aredhel would have simply shot them all for sport. 

 

The two continued on and on, until the sun sank low, and the fireflies began to illuminate the dimly lit woods and by that time, both had sacks full of toads. Aredhel sat down at the base of a tree and pulled her son into her lap. Maeglin was quite tired now and bobbing his little had against his mother’s chest. 

 

“We won mommy, didn’t we? We saved the kingdom!”

 

“Yes love, we did. And it is all thanks to you!” She tightly pulled him into a hug with her free arm. “But now, we must go home, back to our kingdom where we’ll be safe. We will take the orcs with us, and see what our king wants to do with them.”

 

“Daddy is the king!” Maeglin exclaimed, getting a nod from his mother. “You are the queen! Daddy married a pretty queen....I hope I’ll find a queen as pretty as you!”

 

“You will...love, just be sure you do not enchant her to lose her way when she is in the woods. You will be met with nothing but aggravation.” 

 

Vaguely remembering her annoyance when coming across a stuttering and nervous Eol, she only wished Maeglin would have better look when it came to getting a spouse. 

 

“Well love, let us return...” She realized that Maeglin had already dozed off. She yawned and lifted the sacks of toads in one hand, and with the other, grabbed Maeglin in her arm. With a smile on her face she kissed her son and made haste down the path to her home.

 

She couldn’t wait to see Eol’s face when she handed him the sack of toads. 

 

 


End file.
